No Where Else But Up
by NeroSparda420
Summary: When you're born at the bottom of the food chain, what do you truly have to fear besides staying there? What do you have to fear when there is no lower? When there is no where else to go but up? Oc character
1. The Bottom

**What's up guys. I've decided to venture into the dxd realm a bit, and try something a bit different from some of the things I have read. I haven't read too many fanfics from dxd, nor have I gotten far into the anime before stopping, so some of my info may be wrong or slightly off. I will try to get through the anime if I have the time, but until then, please try and bear with my lack of knowledge. Thanks, and enjoy the chapter!**

 **The Bottom**

"Once you become members of society, you shall come to realize, that rank is all that matters. In a world where monsters and demons all gather, rank decides your worth. If you have no rank, you are worthless. If you are able to rise up, however, you shall find life to be much easier, and much more satisfying. Everyone in this class is at the bottom.

All of you are barely worth more than trash. You are all the weakest demonic entities in the underworld presently. If you do not improve, and rank up, you will remain as trash. Your lives will mean nothing. If you do not get inducted into a peerage, you shall never have any influence.

In this school, you gain the potential to rise up to middle-class. If you can not do that in 8 years, you will be kicked out to become a member of society as a low-class demonic entity, working a pathetic job, with pathetic pay."

I zoned out, having heard this same lecture from the matrons at the orphanage a million times. The teacher of our class, Gaur, was a middle-class minotaur, known for their strength, and not much else. He wasn't the most pleasant thing to look at, with incredibly huge muscles, and a bulls head, but he was oddly smart for his race.

"Mr. Gaur, Vylix isn't paying attention!" I felt my jaw clench at hearing my name come up. Nala was a banshee, and someone that I did not get along with at the orphanage. She never missed an opportunity to piss me off.

"It doesn't matter if he isn't paying attention Ms. Nala. Vylix is an incubus, the weakest species of demonic entities, and isn't likely going to ever rank up anyway." The class laughed and my lower lip started bleeding as my teeth dug into it.

I hated when people told me that I would never amount to anything because of what I am. Incubuses were known to be both physically and magically weak, depending on their incredible charm and sexual abilities to get stronger females to fight and protect them. It was something that people never failed to make fun of me for.

But I couldn't say they were wrong even if I wanted to. Demonic beings were supposed to begin demonic maturity by the age of 10. They were supposed to be both smarter and physically stronger than humans by that point, and increase as they went through their puberty.

Unfortunately, as an incubus, I was barely stronger than the average human. I was smarter, but I also had very little demonic power. A top tier lower-class entity was supposed to have at least 20 units of demonic energy, but I barely had even 1.

"Since you all are at the lowest tier of the classes, you will mostly be working on your physical. Demonic entities store energy equal to the body. If you have a weak body, you are likely to have weak energy. There are many cases where you can have more energy than your body, but those techniques are reserved for the nobles and their peerages.

Without that special training, having too much energy in your body will cause your body to deteriorate, and if left like that, will lead to death. But if you increase your physical capabilities, your demonic energy will rise to match it. That being said, this school is not here to coddle you. We will teach you appropriate methods of exercising your body, but you will not workout here.

Instead, we will be having you fight each other. There are 36 other classes besides this one that are on the same level as you guys, and you will be competing with them. Every month, there will be a tournament between the strongest of the classes, and the winner of those tournaments will be able to fight the weakest of the 2nd year to see if they can pass onto the next level in this school.

There are 8 levels of this school. The first four are the bottom to the top of low-class demonic entities. The last four are the bottom to the top of the middle-class entities. Unfortunately for you all, the only way to become a middle-class entity is to graduate as one of the top 5 on the 8th level. Promotions are a very rare and sacred thing in this society after all." He was going over the proper techniques to exercise your body now, and I made sure to pay attention now, since my body was very weak.

This was one of the best schools in Lilith, the capital of the underworld. Devils were the predominant race of the underworld, and usually the most powerful. Lesser demonic entities like myself, were often low-class, and not very numerous. Everyone on the top level of this school was likely a devil, with a smattering of lesser entities.

This was the only decent school for beings that weren't pure-blooded devils. If you couldn't afford to pay the tuition, you merely went into debt, but that could be absolved by becoming a middle-class, and therefore, more like to contribute to society.

I was like everyone else in this world, desperately hoping to become the strongest and coolest demon in the underworld, like the Satans. But I was born an incubus, and not even a full one at that. My mother got impregnated by a human, and threw me into an orphanage once I was discovered to be an incubus and not a succubus like she was hoping, like most of them do.

I was weaker than the average incubus, but I also had a bit of a resistance towards holy energy. It still hurt to say holy words, or make crosses with my fingers, but it wasn't overwhelming pain like others felt. Unfortunately, it didn't matter much since a strong wind was likely to kill me at the moment.

Compared to other entities, I got shafted. I had horrible physical capabilities, besides stamina thanks to my nature. Due to that I had horrible demonic energy. I had even worse regeneration than others, and my lifespan was less than everyone else. While I would still live around 4 or 5,000 years, the average lifespan of everyone else was around 10,000.

If I wanted to live longer than that, I would need to devour someone's life force through sex. I didn't even have as much time as everyone else, so how could I expect to ever be as great as a Satan with my draw in life?

"Alright, we're going to start fighting today. I'm going to gauge your strength with a spell, and rank you based on that." Mr. Gaur raised his right arm, and a golden spell circle lit up his palm, before a wave of power brushed over us, ruffling my hair.

He turned around picked up a piece of chalk. He wrote 30 numbers on the board, and then started writing names from top to bottom. Watching him write my name at the bottom made my stomach go cold, and I clenched my eyes shut in shame.

"Now, I am going to teleport you all to a private area for you to have your little fights." He snapped his fingers, and bright gold circles lit up underneath us all, before my world went wonky.

I had teleported before, and I hated it. I didn't know which was up or down, if I was faced forward or backwards. It was both bright and dark at the same time, and I could never land correctly. Evidenced by me falling on my ass as soon as it was over.

Looking around, we were in a pretty spacious room, but smaller than the classroom. Since we were beginners, it made sense that we didn't need all that much room.

"Err hi, my name is Vylix." I shyly waved a bit at the boy I didn't know, and got no response as he got into a fighting position.

I didn't know who he was, but his race was obvious enough. He was smaller than me, and did not resemble a devil at all. He was green, and furry, and looked sickly. His large, gleaming eyes were rather disgusting. Gremlins were known to be viscous creatures, fast and strong, and hard to pin down.

I didn't have a fighting stance, so I awkwardly held my hands up. I didn't think I could lose this fight, since he was so small, and my superior reach should win out. I refused to lose this, and be named the absolute weakest of the class. I refused to be mocked and ridiculed for being a weak incubus.

As I hyped myself up, I started to run at him. Given the size of the room, it didn't take me long at all to be right on him, keeping as much distance as possible, while still being in the position to hit him. I jabbed with my right arm, and hit air. I was confused for a second at where he went, before I felt a blinding pain in my stomach.

It felt like he punched through me, and I could briefly taste bile in my mouth as the punch rattled my body. I didn't get to see what he had done because he jumped up and uppercutted me, throwing me onto my back.

He got onto me, and began ruthlessly punching my face in. As blood splattered everywhere, I struggled to block my face, to no avail. I could hear the cracks of my jaw, nose, and cheekbones breaking, shattering, and the overwhelming pain and dizziness soon put me to sleep. Laid out by something a quarter of my size, absolutely wonderful.

 **Sometime Later**

The first thing I noticed as I woke up was my sore face. It felt numb, and I hoped most of it was still there. I had felt a lot of my teeth break off, along with the rest of the bones in my face, while the gremlin was beating on it. I reached up, and felt nothing to out of the ordinary, even my nose was fixed. All of my teeth seemed to be perfectly fine too, which meant I had been healed.

I looked over, and realized I was probably in the medical ward. I could see the dark purple sky through the window, which meant it was nighttime. The hunger in my stomach told me that I missed dinner, and since I couldn't leave the school at night, meant I would miss breakfast as well.

Being in the hospital wing meant someone had healed me, which meant my debt was going to go up if I didn't make it to middle-class. My jaw felt like needles were being inserted into them as I tried to keep the tears from leaking. Too tired to do anything else, I laid my head back down, drifting into the realm of dreams, numb to the world, and the ache in my soul at my humiliating defeat.

 **Morning**

I woke up with a start, realized someone was touching my face. My head smashed into someone else's, doing nothing to them, but giving me an instant headache.

"Calm down there, I'm just making sure everything is in order. You took a pretty rough beating." Her words didn't make me feel better at all, but her body sure did.

She was a devil for sure, being both regal and seductive, but not possessing outstanding qualities. She had brown hair, with dark black eyes. I would say she has about C-cups, so nothing special, and her body was mostly slim, with long legs, but a small butt. Curse my incubus nature for making me focus in so attentively on these types of things!

"I'm hoping that you have a concussion, and you are not just staring at my tits little incubus." Her voice was stern, but I was pretty sure I did have a concussion, since I couldn't find it within myself to care about it.

"Sorry." My apology was insincere, but no one but me had to know that.

"Hmph, it doesn't truly matter I suppose. Tis the nature of young men. You should be off now, classes are going to start soon." She stopped examining my face, deeming me well enough to go to class.

I wasn't very happy with her deduction honestly, I was feeling pretty woozy, and I didn't want to get my ass beaten all over again. If that happens every time, I'll definitely starve to death. I reluctantly got up and thanked her, not bothering to ask for her name. She was a middle-class, and to her, I probably wasn't worthy of hearing her name.

My steps were light and staggered. My head was still pretty foggy, but I did possess a tiny regeneration factor, so it was starting to clear up. I walked down the stairs, all the way to the lowest level, where I 'belonged'.

Every step I took, every rumble from stomach reminded me. Reminded me why I was feeling such pain, such agony. I was weak, so, so pitifully weak. I couldn't even beat up a fucking gremlin, though they are ranked higher than incubuses, it was the principal of the matter.

How did I expect to get to the levels of a Satan if I couldn't even beat a gremlin. Was this my destiny? To end up as a footstool for others. To be a punching bag? Would I have to seduce some woman that was stronger than me to survive comfortably? I hated all these traitorous thoughts. Hated how even I put myself down in the deepest echoes of my mind.

If even I didn't truly believe in myself, than what hope did I have to make such a thing become reality? I suppressed those thoughts for now, arriving at my classroom. It was empty, which meant I was early for class. My bag was still in my desk, so I walked over, and sat down, waiting for my class to come.

I laid my head on the table, trying to appease my throbbing headache. The cool wood was soothing, and I saw no harm in taking a little nap. I would be up before anyone even came. Darkness consumed any doubts I had about my decision, and I let myself drift off…

 **A Couple Hours Later**

I was awoken by a loud bang, making me jump in my seat. My vision was blurry, and I had a light headache, but I tried to focus. Looking straight ahead showed me Mr. Gaur, who obviously slammed a thick textbook onto his table to get everyone's attention. Thankfully it wasn't only aimed at me.

I did see some smirks directed at me though, since it was probably obvious I had lost the fight. The ranks had been changed a bit, since others managed to triumph over those perceived as stronger than them, only making the pit in my stomach grow wider at my failure to do the same.

"Now, these fights will only happen on Monday and Thursday, with the rest being dedicated to the history of the world for now. This will give you a bit of time to rest and train for your next fights, and hopefully improve. Now, let's see who can memorize the most names from the 72 pillars."

I took out the textbook we were all given, and turned to the page of the pillars, both existing and extinct. I determinedly ignored my hunger, and the pain trying to focus caused me. I wasn't going to be pathetic knowledge wise and power wise. Bael, Agares, Vassago, Gamigin….

 **After Class**

Thankfully, after the few hours we studied, my headache had disappeared and finally let me think clearly. As I walked out of the school into the crisp air of Lilith, I took note of my body. I was still sore, from my stomach to my head, but it was manageable. I still have to work out, since I only have today and tomorrow before I have to fight that fucking Gremlin again.

I slowly took to the streets, ignoring the diverse people around me, crossing streets when the hover cars stopped speeding everywhere, and planned my workout thoroughly. I have to do an intense workout to have any chance of improving myself.

I didn't exactly know my limits so I would have to find them first. Most of what the Mr. Gaur suggested was pushups, climbers, high-knees, jump-squats, situps, planks, running, punches, kicks, and using weights. I didn't have weights, so that was out.

The exercises were for beginners, and then we were supposed to use weights as we went further. I didn't know how I would get the money for weights, but I guess I'll have to figure something out if I want to become strong.

"Welcome back dear!" One of the old matrons for the orphanage waved at me, and I gave her a subdued smile, unable to muster the will to smile for real.

'Lilith's Restaurant'

Home sweet home

 **Alright guys, this is pretty much the prologue for this story. I don't really intend to go through with canon, since my character will probably be fucking it up. I do intend for him to get a peerage in the story, probably a quarter of the way through, and I intend to fill it with women who had impact on their societies, whether good or bad. I have ideas for them, but would also love if you could give me some suggestions. Till next time!**


	2. Devil's Luck

**Hey guys, back with another chapter. The chapters after the first one will definitely be longer, since that was just a prologue. If you guys notice any mistakes, please feel free to comment or PM me about them. As for my other story, fate's gamer, I will be getting back to that after this chapter. Between school, life, and a bit of writer's block, it's been hard to get the chapter out. I've tried multiple times, but it's always unsatisfactory to me. I have made a breakthrough though, thanks to this story, which is part of why I am writing this one. Thanks and enjoy!**

 **Devil's Luck**

My arms trembled, struggling to push me back up. My hands gripped the floor tightly, trying to stay still despite my sweat making them slide. I tried hard to ignore my drenched and shaking body. My stomach and legs burned from recent exercise, and my arms were starting to feel numb.

150 pushups was my limit. Four weeks of working out, and this was as far as I got. I could run for a few miles, since I had pretty great stamina, but my legs barely functioned afterword. I could do a few hundred crunches, and I used a lot of variations, but it hurt to do anything after that. I've been stuck for the past week, feebly trying to overcome the limits I had found to no avail.

My confidence was not helped by all the beatings I had been getting lately. After the 2nd week, the gremlin, Stripe, challenged the 27th strongest of our class and won. So now I was getting my ass kicked by a goblin. I wasn't sure just how much longer I could take getting my ass beat by someone not even half my size.

I didn't even think it was possible to ever be this humiliated. I thought it was bad in the orphanage, but getting your ass beat by one of the smallest demonic beings in existence, and then getting laughed at by the same little fucker was one of the worst things I had ever experienced.

I'm pretty sure I've been taking some serious damage lately from all those beatings. My debt was probably through the roof since I was almost always in the infirmary. Some days I got lucky, and they would get tired of punching me, so I didn't end up in a semi-coma.

I'm getting better though, slowly and surely, but I can feel the improvement. At least, I can see when and how they are beating my ass, which has helped me come up with some plans to avoid it. I lasted a full minute in my last fight against the goblin, Boit, and I was confident I would be able to land at least one hit against him soon.

I didn't have school for the next week thankfully, seeing as the tournaments for the classes and the advancements started today. That meant I had the whole day to work out. I had already ran, done some leg exercises, did some crunches, some other ab workouts, and now I was doing the dreaded pushups.

I let myself finally flop to the ground, not feeling any relief, just frustration at my inability to improve. I had gotten better from the original 80 I had been able to do, but that was it. Almost everyone in my class was doing 5 times the amount of stuff I could do. I had improved enough to get another unit of demonic energy, but that was about it.

It sucked to be shown in numbers just how pathetic you really were. Low-class beings tended to range from 1 to 20 units. Middle-class range from 21 to 500. High-class range from 501-10,000. Ultimate-class range from 10,001 to 1,000,000 or so. Satan-class was usually 1,000,000 and beyond.

There are tons of exceptions of course, since things like skill, speed, strength, magic, etc. came into play, but generally, these are the numbers that define the class. The four Satans were almost definitely in the 1,000,000 and beyond range, and that was pretty damn discouraging.

Not only were they pretty much 500,000 times my strength, they also had more skill and experience than I could probably ever get, seeing as how they fought in actual wars. I ignored the tremors in my hands, uncaring for the blood dripping down them.

War or no war, I would become great. It didn't even matter that I could never be a Satan due to not being a devil. I would surpass them, make them think of me as I think of them. Make them scramble to achieve even a fraction of my strength.

One day, I'll bring them down to their knees, proclaiming my superiority for all to hear. Then, I'll find my mother. I'll find her just so I can rub her face in what she missed out on. What she abandoned! What she threw to the curb like a piece of trash.

I shakily got up, going over to my mirror. Pitch black hair, tinted purple seemed to suck the light and joy out of everything. Glowing magenta eyes stared back at me. My face lacked any baby fat, like the rest of my body. It was sharp and aristocratic, my cheekbones giving off the illusion I was royalty.

My skin tone could have people confuse me for a vampire with how pale I was. I almost seemed to shine and reflect whatever light hit me, giving me an eerie kind of glow. I was 4' 7", and on the lean side of the body spectrum. My body had some tone to it, but seemed to lack when it came to muscle size.

Obviously my body seemed to prefer that I look sensual, and not really all that masculine, but I was determined to change that. I knew I would probably never be able to have huge muscles, but I would settle for having really defined muscles instead. I already had some definition on my arms, stomach and legs, so I was on my way.

Finished with my short observation, I walked out of my tiny room in the orphanage. It was a pretty nice place, and it had decent food, but it lacked something I wanted. This place wasn't mine. It wasn't my home. It was like I was renting it, and I would be kicked out as soon as a certain amount of time passed. The only difference was that I wasn't paying for it.

The children in the orphanage were expected to donate money to it once they got older, so other children with no homes could live comfortably, and it seemed to work out pretty well. There were quite a lot of donors since we all lived for a pretty long time. Quite a bit of that money went to the people helping out in the orphanage, like the matrons or the cooks.

But it was an old building, being around for a few hundred years, since the start of the second Lucifer's reign at least. It didn't feel like somewhere you would live. It felt more like somewhere you would keep weapons or books, which was probably true at one point.

I waved and greeted everyone I passed on my way out, most of them ignoring me, but a few responding. Being nasty to people never really helped you out, something I learned when the matrons hated me for my attitude. Being nice got you indifference at least, and generally made you less enemies.

"Vylix!" I tried so hard, but I couldn't help the twitch of my eye, hearing the smug voice of the person I really wanted to die.

"What's wrong? Not going to the tournament to show everyone how mighty the incubus is?" Nala's high pitched voice rang through the room, chasing out every sound other than it with violence.

I exhaled quietly and turned around with a small smile on my face, trying to keep calm. Focusing on my aching muscles seemed to help immensely. Nala was a pretty cute girl admittedly, with a paler complexion than mine, and glowing white hair. Her deep dark eyes were a bit eerie, but in an enticing sort of way. Her voice was enough to sour it all though.

"Of course not, wouldn't want everyone else to be embarrassed once people found out they were destroyed by an incubus, now would we?" My voice was pompous and arrogant, in a way that only children could really pull off.

My little sarcastic line got a pretty cute grin out of her, but I refuse to acknowledge that. I had already learned you couldn't beat bullying without being able to make fun of yourself, and that pride can be important, but there's no reason to suffer for it.

"Hmph, that would be pretty pathetic. I imagine their parents would disown them if they found out something so laughable happened." Despite my irritation, I gave her a small chuckle so she would be satisfied.

I didn't bother saying anything else, already tired of having to interact with her. Her voice seemed to sap the little remaining energy I had, but I was determined to continue my training. I ignored the angry look on her face as I pretended not to hear her attempt at continuing the conversation as I walked out the door.

The fresh air seemed to freeze whatever sweat managed to hide in my clothes, and it was definitely not my favorite experience. I marched down the streets with a purpose, walking towards one of the outer rocky areas. There were quite a few of them scattered all around, making miniature mountains, with a few trees around them.

The rocks and boulders there were hard. They were used in some of the buildings because of how tough they were, like steel or iron. They were also what I had been using for training lately, to help me get used to the pain of hitting hard things.

There weren't any people around these areas, since most people preferred the large amount of parks or little stores. I had seen a few people from my school around these places and tried to go to the least frequented one of them all, not wanted to be around people while I tried to improve.

It felt like it should be a personal thing, pushing my body to my limits. I wasn't really keen on the idea of sharing the experience with people. I shook my arms to wake them up, since I would be starting with punches, and climbed the rocks to find my favorite boulder. It was a large thing, probably about 10 times my size, and very thick.

There were splatters of blood all around it from where I would continuously pound my fists and legs against it. I had taken to wearing as little clothes as possible, since I ruined quite a few with all the blood.

I took a few deep breaths, trying to get into the mindset required to so deeply harm yourself. I gazed down at knuckles, seeing the almost unnoticeable scars, given to me due to having such a pathetic regeneration.

I clenched my fists tightly, getting into a shoddy, inexperienced punching position. I tensed my entire body, and tried to put as much strength as my tired body would allow me into a straight jab.

The resulting crunch told me I had broken my hand, long before the pain of doing so did. My bones thankfully didnt break through my skin upon doing so, but a lot of skin was scraped off.

I shuddered briefly, withdrawing it slowly, before getting into a similar position, just the opposite arm. I did my best to ignore the sounds and the pain, as I slowly, methodically pounded away at the rock.

The burning in my arms was drowned out by the pain, and the pain was drowned out by all the humiliation I've experienced.

Twenty minutes. I spent twenty minutes pounding away at the boulder. I always measured my punches, and I managed to dish out 10 punches per minutes. I did at least 100 punches per arm, and I could feel it.

My arms burned like nothing else, telling me I had probably pulled or broken something. My fists were raw and bloody, giving me a tingly numb sensation.

My body was tense and sore from how tightly I had clenched and flexed it. I let myself lay on the ground for a few minutes, trying to stop the flowing tears of pain dripping down my face. I looked at the rock, trying to see if I had at least done something to it.

Nothing. I had done nothing at all. It had a nice new red coating, but that was about it. I wasn't trying to fucking paint it, but that seemed to be all I could do. On the upside, I was really beginning to not feel all that much pain from doing this. It was becoming the norm for me, and I liked that.

I didn't allow myself to dally too long, not wanting allow any thoughts of taking a longer break, or even calling it a day, to persuade me out of my next task.

It was a bit hard to get up, since I couldn't use my hands or my arms to do so, but I managed after fumbling for a bit. I walked over to one of the corners of the boulder, giving myself an easier position to kick at it.

I already had a method to my kicks. I would give a right kick with my foot hitting it, then my calf. Then I'd do the same for the other leg. Thinking about my methods helped me ignore the horrendous pain radiating from my rather delicate legs.

Eventually, like always, I was forced to stop. I couldn't keep going like my punches, simply because my legs couldn't hold my body up any longer. Breathing deeply and as slow as I could, I let myself relax completely.

My workout was done for now, and I would try to do so again in the morning if I could. It always took me a few hours to even be able to walk, so I was stuck on the uneven, prickly ground.

"You have quite an admirable drive little one. Color me impressed!"

The feminine voice somehow managed to be both serious and airy at the same time. Deep and dreary, yet high pitched and upbeat. The contradicting nature of it made my ears hurt a bit.

I struggled to see who spoke and intruded upon my personal moments. I felt anger! It wasn't fear or anything! Anger! I shivered at the malicious yet happy aura I was being bathed in, and finally managed to turn my head enough to gaze at her.

In contrast to the darker tones of her aura and voice, she looked like a bright bubbly girl. She had luscious, curly hair so blonde, it was brighter than the sun in the underworld, though most things tended to be. The sheer glow it gave off seemed to hurt my very being, like it was the original sun and light itself.

Her eyes were slightly narrowed, with chunks of lapis lazuli in them. Just looking at her gaze made me shiver, in fear or her investigating look, or pleasure at the way she was looking at me, I wasn't sure.

Her skin tone only highlighted those attributes, glowing gold. It seemed so smooth and rich, that just looking at it made me ache to touch it, to run my fingers all over it. Her face was angular, with nice cheekbones, a sculpted chin, and a beautiful blush. Her nose was small and cute, slightly pointed.

Her lips weren't very large, but they were a light pink, and looked so sweet, it made my mouth tingle. Her neck was elegant and thing, dipping into a beautiful body. Her clothes were light, and seemed befitting someone who looked like royalty. She wore a light blue silk dress, showing a tiny amount of cleavage, and ending around her lower calves.

Her body wasn't outrageously voluptuous, but it fit her very well. Her body was slim, and I could see a bit of definition lining it. Her breasts weren't huge, sitting at a nice D cup. They were round, and had a light, pretty red glowing from what I could see, showing the life of them.

Her waist was small, and her hips were full. I couldn't see her behind, but I was positive it was just as exquisite as the rest of her. Her thighs were thick, leading down to slender calves, seeming to never end.

"Hmm, well at least you have good taste hah!" She seemed amused instead of offended thankfully, and I reminded myself to learn self control fast.

The sheer power I felt radiating from her told me just what would happen if she had felt offended. I guess it didn't really matter though since I was practically half dead already.

"Are you going to die from blood loss? I'd like it if you could stop zoning out." Ah, she was beginning to get irritated.

I snapped myself out from getting lost in my thoughts once more, struggling to think of something to say.

"Uh… hi?" It was lame, but I really couldn't think of anything to say. I'd say it was good enough though.

"Mmm, so articulate. I know demonic beings have the ability to speak any language, so I don't think it's that. Are you just retarded or something?" She seemed genuinely curious, but I was too exhausted to actually care.

"Tired." My raspy voice irritated me, the weakness in it was obvious.

"Well, you do look like you're about to die, so that makes sense. Here, let me help with that." She sat up from her stop on the raised ground and strutted towards me. The sway of her hips was almost hypnotizing.

She bent over me slightly, raising a hand over my chest. From her hand came light. It felt like looking at the sun, but it was holy. Like it was sunlight given form. It burned my body like nothing else, making me realize with a jolt, that this was actual light. Something that could kill beings like me without to much trouble.

It felt like every part of my being was on my fire. It was both scorching hot, and a soothing warm. The warmth began winning out though, and eventually the light stopped. I tried to get up, my eyes still slightly blinded, but found my body would only spasm in response.

"Give it a minute. Your body's a bit weakened after being exposed to such potent light." Her soft, soothing voice attempted to seduce me into comfort, like she was a mother talking to her child.

It disturbed me more than comforted me, never really being shown this amount of positive attention, and only made my body spasm more as I attempted to overcome my weak body.

"Hah, so stubborn. I suppose that's definitely not the worst quality you could have." The last thing my blurry vision saw was her hand glowing a light gold over my face, before nothingness consumed me.

 **XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO**

"Ragh!" I shot up with a little shout, dizzy, disoriented, and a bit scared. I looked around quickly, ignoring the little spasm my neck gave me, still harmed from the light.

The room I was in was nice, and what I would expect noble families to sleep in. There was a bit of art hanging off smooth grey stone walls. There were stands with expensive vases, and jewelry everywhere, and the bed itself was the size of my entire room, and probably more expensive than the entirety of the orphanage.

I couldn't hear anything from outside this room, which only made my fear begin to grow. I had pretty decent hearing, and to hear nothing at all meant that there was something magically blocking it.

And someone that had the ability or could afford to have permanent wards etched for silence in a room either had a decent amount of power and knowledge, or a lot of money. Either option was pretty scary.

But I forced myself to breathe, trying to calm myself down as much as I could. The only sensible reason I could be here was that the lady brought me. Actually, on second thought, I didn't know who she was. How did I know she wasn't gonna experiment on me or something equally weird.

No one would care if I went missing, since it was doubtful that I would contribute to society all that much anyway. I wasn't a genius or a powerhouse, so there was little that I could do that anyone else couldn't.

Before my thoughts could get any more self-deprecating that they already were, the large doors blew open, revealing the object of my fantasi-, nightmares. Nightmares, not fantasies. Definitely not now that she was dressed in more revealing, casual clothing.

I pinched myself to get out of my thoughts, staring into her eyes with what I hoped was confidence. My puffed out chest was hopefully selling it to her, but I was very doubtful of that. The little smile she was giving me was proof of that.

"Cute. At least you're finally awake. Watching you twitch and spasm for the past 3 hours was getting tiring." I suppressed the twitch of my brow at that condescending statement, and settled for frowning at her back as she left the room.

I shakily hopped off the bed, my legs feeling like numb and jittery. It was nice that they weren't broken though. Those always took the entire day and night to heal, and it was always a bitch to walk on slightly fragile legs in the morning.

The rest of the apartment or home or whatever the hell it was, was incredibly nice and lavish. This woman definitely had quite a bit of wealth, judging from all the gold, diamonds, painting, and sculptures in the hallways and rooms.

This is the kind of person that could literally buy you, and the thought wasn't comforting at all. In fact, the part of me that thought there was any hope of getting away unnoticed was screaming, but I wasn't that stupid. This woman had access to light, and not the corrupted kind that shines down on the underworld.

I hurried to keep pace with her, and not because losing sight of her meant not seeing that amazing ass, I just didn't really want to get lost.

"What's your name?" I was tired of calling this woman, this woman. Saying it so many times in my head was getting annoying.

"Hmm, my name is Parthenos. And you, little devil?" Her rich voice sent shivers down my back as we finally reached what was probably her living room, waving her hand at the couch for me to sit.

"It's Vylix, and I'm not a devil. Where does the name Parthenos come from?" I wasn't offended at being called a devil, and most would have accepted the misunderstanding, but I wasn't going to shy from my heritage.

Her name was definitely a bit odd. Not any name I'd heard people in the Underworld having, and I supposed that made sense given she wielded true light.

"Not a devil? You seemed so driven, so full of desire for power. What demonic entity are you then?" She obviously didn't care for my second question, but that was whatever I guess.

"I'm an incubus." I had stopped caring when people learned I was an incubus, because it was always the same reaction, and Parthenos was no different.

The slight upturn of her lips, the amusement in those beautiful blue eyes, and the little chuckle. It was always either superiority or amusement that came with those reactions, and I'm pretty sure she already knew she was superior to me.

"I've never met an incubus that lusted for power instead of women before. I'm quite glad I decided to bring you home with me. It's been awhile since I've seen something so amusing." She took a sip out of a diamond glass, that came out of nowhere, doing an incredible job at looking like an asshole.

I was used to this though. I couldn't let something like this get to me, no matter how much it burned my pride to stay silent about it. The satisfaction I would get one day, when everyone thinks of my name in awe and fear, would be more than enough to rid myself of all the humiliation I'd ever experienced.

"Why'd you bring me here?" My voice was a bit too calm, almost cold. I bit the inside of my lip at my loss of composure, which could be deadly if the worst came to be.

"Hmm…" Her small smile disarmed most of my anger and worry, "Was I supposed to leave you unconscious where anyone could do anything to you?" Her voice was calm and soothing again, but I didn't want to be manipulated into any kind of mood, so I stayed edgy.

"Why were you there anyway?" I was pretty suspicious to be honest, because people didn't just wander through the rocky areas.

"The same reason as anyone else." She got tired of sitting up, and draped herself on the couch opposite to me, stretching out in some pretty delicious ways.

"Yeah right, you're too strong to use that small area to train." I had felt her power, even if she kept a tight leash on it now. Feeling her magic flow into me, gave me a tiny insight to her strength, and by how tiny it made me felt, was too much to train in the tiny little area I frequented.

She turned her head toward me lazily, just taking a few moments to observe me. I had to admit, her gaze was a bit nerve wracking. It was the gaze of a predator, the gaze of someone who wants something.

"What's your dream little one? What drives you to such lengths? What makes you so willing to inflict such pain upon yourself?" Her eyes lit up a dazzling gold for a split second, as if she was trying to look into me, and it made my stomach squirm.

"The top. I want to get to the top." Being looked at in such a way left me unable to say anything else but what I truly wanted, like the truth was the only thing allowed to be said.

"You want to become a Satan? To stand shoulder to shoulder with the strongest devils?" The encouraging smile she gave me made a warmth grow in my stomach.

"No." My blunt denial made her eyes widen, and her smile drop.

"Then what? You wish to become an ultimate-class?" She looked a bit disappointed at that, but she was still wrong.

"No. I want to go higher than anyone else has every gone. Beyond the Satans, the gods, even the two true dragons. I want to make the Apocalypse Dragon and the Ouroboros Dragon look at me like everyone else looks at them. Unstoppable, unbeatable, the greatest power." She stared blankly at my grand declaration, before bursting into laughter.

I was briefly taken aback by the beautiful peels of laughter coming from her lips, feeling warm and safe, before realizing why she was laughing. She was the first person I ever told my aspirations to, and she responded exactly like I expected. She seemed so different though, so unique, and I couldn't help but be disappointed at the response.

"Excellent! That drive! That dream! You are exactly one of the people I am looking for!" The excitement in her voice was staggering, and the dumbfounded look I gave her only made her laugh, in what I was realizing was joy, even more.

"People you're looking for? What's that supposed to mean?" I knew the concept of the peerage system, and the thought of becoming this woman's servant, while appealing in some sexual way, went against every fiber of my being. Something in me refused to be someone's servant.

"Do you know what I am?" Her face didn't lose any of the happiness from earlier, but it became more somber, more serious.

"A woman?" I knew what she was asking, but the sudden shift in mood kinda caught me off guard. I pretended like she didn't throw me an annoyed look at my sarcasm.

"Funny. I'm a demigod. More specifically, the greek demigod of Apollo." She smirked at the shock I knew my face was showing. I didn't know all the names of the gods, since we had just started going over factions and pantheons, but we did talk about demigods briefly.

"I was once a princess, around 2,600 years ago or so, and one of the most beautiful and powerful daughters of Apollo." She seemed wistful, remembering things from long ago."

"But demigods only have a slightly longer lifespan than humans, don't they?" I had never heard of a demigod living so long, but then again, I didn't know much about them.

"They do, and I was no different. Tell me, have you heard of the story of Hades and Persephone?" I had not heard of that story, since we were pretty much just glossing over the huge amount of stuff in the worlds.

"No."

"Hmm, well no one really knows what actually happened, but I do know a bit of the story. One day, on one of the rare days that he visited the Earth, he stumbled upon Persephone. He was enamored by the brilliant flowers and life all around her, and how she seemed to embody it all. After living in his desolate part of the underworld with no light, nor life, he yearned for her. He ended up kidnapping her and tricking her into staying in the underworld with him."

The bitterness in her voice practically leapt into my mouth, making it turn. The rage in her eyes told me that this story was pretty personal for her.

"After marrying her, he thought his life was better. But something was still missing. He had life in his underworld, but no light. He scoured Greece to try and find a goddess to kidnap to give him light, but gave up. They were all too well guarded, or not what he was looking for. Then he came upon the island Naxos.

There he found a demigoddess, a daughter of Apollo. Someone who seemed to embody the very light and happiness he was looking for. But she was mortal, and would not last as he wanted her to. Of course something like that was not hard to get around. He was unable to grant her immortality himself, since doing so just because he wanted to keep her forever would get him into trouble.

He couldn't give her nectar, because eventually, such a thing would turn her into a full blooded goddess, and he feared she may be able to disobey him for a tiny amount of time and kill herself. He searched and searched, and eventually found a ningyo. Ningyo are incredibly rare sea-faring beings, that look like demented mermaids. When one eats their flesh, they become cursed with immortality.

The only thing he needed to do next was get to the princess. Such a thing was not hard for him, sneaking into the palace, and disguising himself as a chef. He prepared the meat specially for her, and she ate it. He waited patiently, almost 80 years before visiting her once more. All of her friends had died, including her family, while she remained young and beautiful.

The only mercy she had, was that she did not have a husband or children, forbidden from doing so by Apollo. But she was also not allowed to kill herself, as Apollo did not want a child of his staining his name with suicide. Once he found her, wallowing in her sadness, he seduced her to step into the underworld, with promises of seeing her family and friends once more.

Once there, he presented her a pomegranate seed, telling her that it would allow her to die and join the rest. Foolishly, she ate the seed, and was cursed to remain in the underworld, tied to Hades. Thus, he had his life, and his sun."

It didn't exactly take a genius to guess who the demigoddess was talking about. While I did feel horrible for her, it didn't exactly make me any less suspicious of why she was telling me this.

"Why tell me your story? Why am I one of the people you're looking for?" My earlier fear was returning again. People were generally cruel enough with a regular life, but someone like her? Who knew how fucked up she was?

"Persephone gave up. She was allowed 6 months with her mother and 6 months in the underworld, but I was not given the same. I was chained to him no matter how much I pleaded. No matter how much I yearned for freedom. But I desperately wanted to be free from my curse. So every time Hades let me leave his desolate part of the underworld, into the rest of it to do some business on his behalf, or to the world above, I would seek out people.

People that may just be able to help me achieve my dream, in exchange for me helping them achieve theirs. And you just happen to be one of those people." She gave me a gentle smile, a slightly broken smile that told of just how she tortured herself with hope.

"You're saying you can help me achieve my dream, but if you had the power to do so, you wouldn't be stuck in your situation. Besides that, you said you were cursed to remain tied to Hades. Can you even break something like that?"

"Hmph, I didn't say I could achieve your dream for you. I can give you the tools that you need to start your path, but that's about it. And as for breaking what ties me to him, it's rather simple. You merely have to kill him." She said it nonchalantly, like she wasn't talking about one of the strongest gods.

"Kill him? How do you even permanently kill a god? I thought their physical bodies could be destroyed without them 'dying'." I knew some people spoke of killing gods, but if she knew how, I doubt she would be wasting her time with me.

"I'm not tied to his soul, I am tied to his body. He consumed ¾ of the seed, and I consumed a ¼, putting him in control. If you destroy his body, you destroy the control that the seed gives over both me and Persephone. You would garner not only my favor, but persephone's and her mother, which would help your goal along quite a bit."

It was enticing. Very, very enticing. Especially the part where she would help me start my ascent to the top. But the danger was obvious, and well, dangerous.

"But I would make an enemy out of Hades, who could possibly convince the rest of the pantheon to try and kill me." Hades was one of the big three of the greek pantheon, and while not living with them, was probably influential.

"He won't. Zeus will never go for something like that, simply because he would think it is some trick. He is known for being easily fooled, and it makes him incredibly wary of things like that. If Hades told him that he wanted to hunt down an incubus, he would probably find such a thing ridiculous, and part of some plot. Poseidon is too laid back to care, so he won't go for it either."

I ignored the part about me being an incubus, thus pathetic, even though it made sense. I suppose she knew more about the gods personalities than I did, so I couldn't refute her claims.

"So what, you're just going to depend on an incubus to be your source of freedom?" Something like that sounded incredibly unbelievable. No one would depend solely on the weakest species of demon.

"HAHAHAHA! Please Vylix, I'm trying to be serious here, stop making such funny jokes." I let my eye twitch, having had to listen to her laugh for a solid two minutes.

"I have quite a few others that I have recruited over the years. I give them aid from time to time, lead them to weapons that may help them in their endeavors, give them contacts to help them if they need it, and sometimes financial aid. If they need some obscure tome of magic, they ask me for it, and I try and get it for them."

It sounded like it would be pretty easy for them to use her, but I guess if she was really desperate she wouldn't care. But no, she was old, and it was likely that had happened to her already.

"And what stops someone from telling you that they'll help you, and then just using you?" The bright smile I got from that question made me warm, and I guess it made sense, since she seemed to have light powers.

"Simple, an oath." She avoided my inquisitive look by getting up and going into the kitchen connected to the room.

"What kind of oath?" I was really wary now. There were contracts made between demonic beings, which could result in excruciating pain from breaking them, all the way to contracts that would kill you for breaking them.

"Simple. An oath that states you will help me free myself the moment you think it is doable.. I admit that quite a few people thought too highly of themselves, and once compelled by the oath to help me, were far outmatched and killed. Since then, I tend to be pickier with those I choose. No need to make Hades suspicious with all the people trying to attack him."

What a dangerous oath. The moment you are so self assured that you think you can take on a being, you were compelled to do it. I would have to avoid thinking about it, until I was completely sure I could do it. That would be a challenge all in itself.

"Just how many people have tried to free you so far?" She was over 2,600 years old, so she should have been able to recruit quite a lot of people.

"Hmm, well I have quite a lot of people trying to improve at the moment, but I would say about 1,649 people have tried to set me free. Some even found each other, and tried to work together." She said the number so disappointingly, and I could only imagine having hope so many times, only to have it ripped away.

"And how many, of those 1,649 people, came close to freeing you?" Just how compelling was the oath, and how sensitive to your thoughts and confidence was it?

"None. None of them came even remotely close. Hades is one of the strongest beings for a reason, and they couldn't even make him get up out of his throne. Some of them trained for hundreds of years, gained semi immortality from me, and still could not do a thing against him." The knife in her hand shattered, startling her.

She didn't seem too bothered by it however, nor did she clean up the mess. She simply came back into the living room with two bowls of sliced fruit and vegetables, not giving me a chance to decline. It did taste pretty good, so I wasn't that sad about it.

"How many do you have out there training for their dreams and your freedom?" In her lifetime, she could have acquired hundreds more people, especially if she had some way to give them longer lifespans like she had implied before.

"Around 5,000. It's not as many as I want, but there are only so many people willing to brave the danger, or the thought of killing Hades. I've learned that tricking people doesn't work, since they don't have the drive they need." Her gaze pierced me, trying to gauge my acceptance of her deal. I kept my face as blank as I could, not wanting to appear on either side of the fence.

"How would you help me start?" She spoke of contacts, weapons, spells, and money. But something like that wouldn't help me at the moment.

"What's your weaknesses?" I took a few minutes to think about it, knowing that I had quite a few of them.

"Physical ability. My body is naturally weaker, and has worse reflexes than other demonic beings, and is a bit harder to train, which is why I go to such lengths. Because of my weak body, my energy is weak, and I don't know how to train my energy to be stronger than my body, so I need my body to be strong for my energy.

My magical ability is nonexistent as well. I don't have a good understanding of what I want to do, and thus my imagination is incomplete. My will is fine, but the power is shot as well, meaning that I can't perform spells, even the standard teleportation that everyone can do is incredibly hard for me.

My regeneration is a lot slower than others. My cuts and bruises sometimes take an hour or two to heal, and broken bones can take an entire night, or even a day to heal. It cuts down on my training time, and keeps me too exhausted to study all that much.

I have no knowledge of fighting. They generally just make us fight and learn from that. So if someone is stronger than me, I'm generally fucked. I don't have much experience, but we do fight a lot so I guess I will gain some as I go.

I'm weak to light, and holy objects and words, like everyone else. Not sure how to get around that. Generally, you just get incredibly strong, and gain a semi immunity to it. That's about all I can think about for my weaknesses."

We sat there in silence for a bit of time, her simply soaking in my words for a bit. She didn't seem surprised that I had so many things wrong with me, but she did seem a bit irritated.

"Hm, well that's all I need to know. I doubt you're ready to make a deal with me, and I still need to work on helping you, so what do you say we meet tomorrow? At where you train?" She seemed deep in thought, and I was actually really interested in what she had to offer so I agreed.

"Alright, let me walk you out." The door was right next to the living room, so it was only a few feet away.

Every step seemed to increase my anxiety. I was incredibly interested in what she could do for me, and beating Hades would give me a pretty amazing reputation, which is what I was looking for. The only question was, if she still thought it would be worth it to make a deal with someone so weak.

"See you tomorrow." I offered a little sideways wave, which she smiled at. Satan, she was so beautiful.

I was honestly a bit distracted thinking back on the conversation we had just had, that after 5 minutes of walking, I realized I had no idea where the hell I was. I had definitely never been to this part of Lilith.

'Well Fuck.'

 **Alright, that's the end of this chapter. As for action and shit, it's definitely going to happen, but it's probably going to take a bit to get to real action against stronger beings in the DxD universe. Some chapters will be filled with pretty much just world building, character interaction, and training, with small amounts of fighting. This was mostly a world building/character interaction chapter, with a bit of what he does for training. Anyway, till next time.**


	3. Progress

**Alright guys, back with the next chapter. I actually couldn't stop thinking about this story, even while trying to work on my other one, but I did manage to get it like half complete, so progress. Anyway, enjoy the chapter!**

 **Progress**

I jolted awake at the reverberating steps of the other children, feeling the soreness of my barely healed body. After hours of asking directions and walking, I had finally managed to get back. By then, it was already almost night time.

That didn't stop me from working out even more though. Since I was practically fully healed, it was unacceptable to not be training. Despite Parthenos obviously being desperate, I doubted that she would bother wasting time on what she thought of as a lost cause.

That simply meant that I had to try even harder. She had access to a lot of what I would need if I wanted to succeed in my goal. My conversation with her yesterday only educated me more on what I needed.

I needed to be able to network. I had to have people who could get me access to things I might need. People with influence, that can lead to me gaining influence through them. Most importantly, I needed to make myself valuable.

I needed more than just strength and spells. I would have to work at interacting with people, with trying to gain their respect, and maybe just a bit of friendship. Allying myself with weak people that have no influence wouldn't do me much good, so there wasn't a need to make people want to be my ally at the moment.

Parthenos could offer me pretty much all of that. Whereas before there had been a gaping chasm with no way of crossing, she was a bridge. She was a broken bridge that may only get me a quarter of the way there, but it was still something.

Parthenos didn't want any of that though, she just wanted someone with power and intelligence. She needed someone smart and strong enough to free her. If I could do that, the bridge would become just a little longer, and maybe I could find some way to connect another one to it.

So I needed to do even more. I needed to get stronger. I needed to get better at using my demonic energy. I needed to get smarter, learn tactics, and just learn in general. First, I needed to advance out of this school. I needed a place with better opportunities, and sticking in Orrexid academy wasn't ideal.

If I did it right, it should be possible to get out of there in a couple years, if not less. The only problem was reaching the level of power I would need. Once you got up in levels, it stopped being purely physical, and the students often used magic.

From what I had watched, it was unrefined magic, since their desire, imagination, and power wasn't all that great, but it was too much for me. So I would have to learn magic as well, which would probably be harder than training.

I forced myself to stop thinking, having used my thoughts as an excuse not to get out of bed. I swung my body out of the bed, landing with a thump and quite a lot of pain.

"Ow." The course wood scraped at my naked flesh, cutting it open and leaving me with blood all over my chest. Maybe it wasn't such a great idea to do that?

It was hard to even stand, the bones in my legs not completely healed, made obvious by the sharp pain emanating from them. I gingerly grabbed an old shirt, wiping the blood off. Thankfully, the bleeding stopped pretty fast and just left with gashes.

Getting dressed with broken hands was a bit hard, but nothing I hadn't done quite a few times already. The rest of the process kind of just slipped out of my mind. I ate, talked to other kids, joked around with them, and then left to my little training ground.

Even the walk there seemed to just breeze past me, too caught up in thoughts of glory and grandeur. A glance of pain brought me out of it swiftly, and I sternly reminded myself that I was nowhere close to achieving my goal.

There was no point in getting cocky before I had the power. I didn't see Parthenos anywhere, and I was still sore and tired, so I laid back against some jagged rock and enjoyed the nice breeze. It didn't take me long to just get swept away by the relaxation.

 **XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO**

I tried to calm myself the moment I woke up. I couldn't stop the instinctive tensing of my muscles as someone played with my hair, but I was pretty sure I knew who it was, so I tried not to lash out. Thankfully, I succeeded.

"You know, you have amazing hair. It's so silky, and soft. Like I'm running my hand through satin." Her voice was disarming, and helped me calm down immensely.

"One of the few strengths given to an incubus. I always have fabulous hair." My flat tone made her giggle quietly, and I hated to think it, but I could see why Hades would want her so bad.

"Incubus have quite a few strengths. I've met some before, and most have tried to seduce me. They have the ability to charm people through eye contact, making them practically slaves if their will and energy is not enough to fight it off.

The more powerful the incubus, the more powerful their seductive aura is, which typically throws people off guard, making it good for fights. There's the ability to dream walk, though I am not quite sure how it's done considering they tend to be secretive about it.

There's the life force and energy that they are able to drain out of people, though it must be done through sex. The only other thing I can recall is their ability to transform their bodies, usually done to better seduce people. You get quite a few perks since your heritage weakens you so."

She tried to make it seem better, as if they could be used to battle, but I wasn't sure it would actually work. People tended to be defensive in fights, so I doubted the charm and aura would really do anything, at least no higher up.

The other abilities, I had no idea how to use them, and didn't really care to find out honestly. I liked the way I looked, even if I wanted just a little more muscle. I wanted to earn it, not just transform into it.

"Anyway, I am prepared to make my sales pitch to you. Would you like to come back to my home to hear it?" I knew she could see talking about it was making me unhappy, and I gave a thankful smile for trying to clear the air.

"Sure, why not. As long as you return me this time instead of making me walk that is." The grin on her face told me that wasn't happening, and while I could make a magic circle, doing so for that distance would definitely leave me unconscious with my shit reserves.

As the ground lit up gold, lightly burning me, I clenched my eyes shut. I hated the feeling of teleportation, but closing my eyes always seemed to help. At least that way, the only thing I had to worry about was the heat and the cold. Not knowing what's up or down or left or right was uncomfortable to say the least.

I knew it was over when I was dropped to the ground hard, which made no sense because I was supposed to already be on the ground. She did that on fucking purpose! What a bitch.

"Wow, your shit at teleporting people." I got up slowly, still a bit tense, but pretty much all healed up.

"I'm shit? Really. Wanna see just how good at teleporting I am?" The gold from beneath me hinted that she wasn't joking, but the grin on her face, and her mocking tone made me uncertain.

"No, no. I think I'm good. Satan only knows where I'll end up with your skills." She chuckled briefly before taking a seat on one of her many couches, gesturing for me to sit beside her.

I did so a bit hesitant, aware of my own hormones as an incubus, and a maturing demon. Than and she was warm, and hot, and man she had some hugeeee-.

"Right! Now, let's go over this a bit better. The deal is, that you help me by destroying Hades' body, and I help you achieve your goal until I'm free, while maintaining at least ally status afterward. That sound good?" I didn't really have a problem with that, having thought of it thoroughly last night.

"What about the rest of your recruits? You stated last time that there were a few that teamed up. Why doesn't everyone try team up and rescue you?" It was an inconsistency in our talk yesterday, one I didn't understand.

"Tell me something Vylix. Do you think that Hades will not try to get me back?" Her jaw clenched in rage, and I could understand why. She would probably always have him hunting her down.

"Okay, I get that, but what does that have to do with not teaming up?"

"Simple. If whoever frees me is able to do so in the first place, I would naturally try to stay with them, since that is the most likely way to stay free. A lot of the people I recruit do get a bit infatuated with me, as people tend to do. Not trying to be arrogant or anything, but it's something I gained from Apollo. Hard not to shine like the sun when your powers embody it."

Okay, that made sense. It wasn't hard to get the implied message. People wouldn't want to share her, and while she didn't seem happy that she would likely have to use her body to remain free, she certainly seemed willing.

"I'm guessing there's quite a few people who want to free you so they can have you huh?" I wasn't sure if everything she was saying was the truth, but I read that most of Apollo's children were unable to tell lies since they were the children of truth.

"Yes. Even if I did not offer money, or power, or knowledge, or networking, they would still try to help me. Simply because they wish to have me."

"Well, I guess that means I'll just have to win. Challenges are always more satisfying when there's a prize at the end." I gave her a joking smirk, getting a small smile from her. It was unsurprising since it was a pretty morbid joke.

"Will they be hostile towards other recruits?" If she had a lot of recruits in the underworld, and they somehow found out that I was one of them, I don't think I'll be able to defend myself.

She sighed, looking a bit annoyed, "It's a possibility. Like I said before, they get me along with everything I offer if they free me, so they may get a bit competitive."

I gave a small grunt from the answer, both of us sitting in silent thought. There were about 5,000 people out there that were recruits. A lot of them may only be at the beginning stage, but there were probably quite a few that were at least around ultimate-class strength. I would have to get to satan-class strength if I wanted to be comfortable going out into the world.

"How many demonic entities do you have as recruits?" The answer seemed to snap her out of her melodramatic mood.

"None." The short answer kind of left me reeling.

"None? As in you don't have a single one? I mean, you've probably been here quite a lot since you live in another section of the underworld. How have you not managed to recruit any?" Demons and devils were greedy. The opportunity probably wasn't something they could pass up.

"You people are deceptive. You want and want, and yet don't wish to give. I have tried to recruit dozens of you, since you all hold so much potential, but I have yet to succeed."

The cold look in her eyes made me itch in places I somehow knew I would never reach. She was really good at making people uncomfortable, I'll give her that.

"And just how do you know they are deceiving you?" She said she made people take an oath, but was there even more than that?

"It's rather simple. I do have a semblance of power over truth. Especially when our energy is bonding in an oath, one cannot deny me the truth. Everytime I have made it with one of your kind, they can never say they won't deceive me. I've found it rather risky to deal with devils as well."

"What makes it risky for you?" She was strong, so I doubted she had to worry about being fought or anything.

"Well, I once approached a member of the now extinct house Valefor named Argan. He was a young devil, but he had an incredible amount of potential. His family line was dying though, and their power was receding slowly but surely, so I thought it safe to make a move on him.

I approached him with my story and my deal, and let him think about it for a couple of days before returning to his home. He had told his father and mother, the only people in his family besides him, and they seemed to want to be included.

At the time I was overjoyed, since having a powerful family like Valefor on my side would be incredibly useful. Of course when I made the oath, and asked if they would deceive me, they all ended up saying yes. Since the oath was not complete, they were unable to move for a short while.

When I asked, they simply told me that they intended to use a bit of magic to essentially kick their side of the deal to the corner of their mind, so they would never feel ready to do so. I couldn't risk my plans getting out so I killed them and made their family line extinct. I doubt I would have been able if we weren't in the middle of an oath I controlled.

Doing that was pretty dangerous since they were a part of the 72 pillars after all, and they are still hunting for the unknown killer today. It's already been about 290 years, and they still haven't let it go. It's why I can't afford to go for bigger targets.

Besides that, there's the fact that Hades lives in the underworld. His body will only take 2 or 3 months to reform, and then you would have one of the biggest powers in your homeworld as your eternal enemy. Kind of puts off most demonic beings."

It made sense, but it was pretty scary. I was now almost positive that if I had wanted to say no, or even deceive her, I would die.

"I don't kill everyone. Since you can only tell the truth, it's not like I can't ask if you'll tell anyone else." She tried to reassure what I was obviously worried about, but it didn't matter much to me since I planned not to die.

I cleared my throat softly, "Right, well I'm not that worried about that. You mentioned your sales pitch. Let's hear it."

"Well, let's just go over the general stuff you get from making this deal with me. Firstly, knowledge. I offer an incredible range of both mythological and magical knowledge. I have collected tomes of knowledge for a couple thousand years, and have readily available copies of anything you might think you need.

Secondly, I offer access to my monetary assets. I understand that sometimes you need a bit of status, and money tends to go hand in hand with such a thing. Getting items, books, or even ingredients for things you need can also sometimes be paid for.

Thirdly, I give you access to my wide array of contacts. I have a hand in almost all the pies. I meet with the Satans quite often since Hades likes to complain to them about their noise quite a lot. I have an in with quite a few magical organizations. I have contacts with powerful solo magicians and the sorts.

I have connections in the human world, with businesses and the like. I spend quite a bit of time when I am on business for Hades with the archangel Gabriel, and by proxy, the archangel Michael. I do business with both Armaros and Sahariel of Grigori, though I am not that close with them since they try to get sexual favors quite a lot.

Besides that, I have minor connections with most pantheons, and can get you almost anything Greek that you might need, as long as it is nothing major.

Fourthly, there are quite a few amazing weapons out in the world that will aid you incredibly. I do my best to keep my eye out for such things, and I notify all who I feel are ready for such a thing of its location. It's generally a free for all and a sort of race to get it, but you are granted the opportunity.

Fifthly, I offer you my physical aid. If you need my help in a fight, or just a battle of the wits, if I am available, I will try my best to help as long as everyone doesn't know who I am, or is dead at the end of it. How does that sound?"

I had to stop myself from grinning, because that honestly sounded too good to be true. I knew I would have to do a lot of this myself eventually, and learning from her setup would definitely be good experience.

"That sounds amazing honestly. But you said that was the general benefits. What's the personal ones?"

She grinned at me, and laid out a few golden rings on the table, "I know you are not experienced with magic, nor very powerful at the moment. These are my offerings to you. You talked about your weaknesses and these are my ways to counteract them. I don't have everything done, but most of it was basic.

This ring will increase the 'gravity' of your body. It's a pretty hard thing to carve into a ring, but I have a bit of practice with it since quite a few people have need of it. It takes an incredibly low amount of energy to use, since it only increases gravity on the wearer, meaning no resistance to its effects. The more you pour into it, the more the gravity increases.

After pouring the magic into it, it uses the ambient energy in the air around you to keep it from being drained too quickly. Since the underworld, specifically Lilith, is very energy saturated, it should be able to last 6 or 7 hours before turning off, and needing you to set it again.

This ring, increases the resistance of your body towards movement. Unlike the extra weight that the gravity stimulates, this simply makes your body fight against itself to move, and is great training for your reflexes. The energy works the same as the gravity ring.

The last ring that I have right now is my blessing. It's both a way for us to communicate, and to nullify your weakness towards light. Unlike the others, this one is connected to me, and I have it connected to a special energy tank of mine. In the future, your energy will sustain it, but for now, you need not worry about it.

You'll still be harmed by light, but it will just be like any other person. That isn't the last ring I wanted to give you, but I am having a bit of trouble designing this one since I never thought of training a person's healing factor. It'll take me a bit of experimenting, but I'll probably have it done in a month or so.

Anyway, there are still your other weaknesses to take into consideration. Your knowledge of fighting and everything in general. Those pretty much fall under the umbrella of the first thing I offer, and aren't hard to get.

I understand devil magic is about will, imagination, and the power to fuel it, so I can get you a lot of books to increase that imagination. I also have quite a lot of books on fighting styles, but that will take a lot of fighting to even begin getting it down without a proper trainer."

I picked up a ring, slowly pushing some of my energy into it. It briefly lit up a scarlet red, lines and swirls, and intersecting lines showing the carvings and the number 1 before dying down. It was pretty awesome, I had to admit, and nearly had me salivating.

"I'll be fighting a lot anyway, so it should be fine." Her face lit up in joy, before smoothing out as she tempered it.

"So, do you wish to make the oath?" I knew this moment would be a turning point for me. The air seemed almost stifling as I thought about my answer.

Once I accepted this, there was no going back. I would be set on this path even if I wanted to get off at some point. This would be the start of a new life. A dangerous adventure, that will almost definitely get me killed. What sane person makes a deal like this?

"Yes." I was almost irritated by how little I hesitated before answering.

 **XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO**

There was a beautiful golden light surrounding everything. It threatened to burn me to death the more I leaned into it, and yet it was all the more beautiful because of it. I was still weak to it without the ring, but hopefully that would be solved at the end of this.

We spent almost 4 hours in the basement, just carving into the ground. Well, she did. I just sat and watched, occasionally sipping the juice she had given to me. It was pretty relaxing honestly. Kinda took the wind out of my sails since I was getting pumped, but whatever.

Now though, it was done. The room was ready for the oath, and we were both standing inside the main circle of what she had created. It was obvious to me that this place was a rental since there wasn't something like this here already, and it made me wonder why she would waste time furnishing it.

"My name is Parthenos. I am the daughter of the god Apollo and the human Khrysothemis. I am 2,690 years old." The golden light got even brighter as she stated her being, seeming to leap in joy at connecting with her.

"My name is Vylix. My parentage is unknown to me. I am 10 years old." The light got even brighter, but it was almost like it was angry. I did seem pretty unworthy compared to her I guess.

"I wish to bond with thee in an oath unbreakable. An oath that continues on until stated to end, or death of the other." Damn, she was glowing like crazy. It was like she was made of light. What an awkward boner.

"I wish to bond with thee in an oath unbreakable. An oath that continues on until stated to end, or death of the other."

We clasped each other's forearms, my veins seeming to become a bright gold, and the warmth I felt from connecting to her on such an intimate level was something I never felt before. On the contrast, her veins seemed to become scarlet red, making her look pretty cool.

"My task is thus. I shall provide aid in thy goals in anyway I can, besides sexual. I will provide thou support in thy times of need. I shall do so until I am freed from the bonds of Hades."

"My task is thus. I shall destroy the physical body of Hades, freeing Parthenos, as soon as I think myself capable. I shall uphold this task until you are free from the bonds of Hades." The golden light was all I could see besides her now, signifying that we were nearing the end of the contract.

"Will thou attempt to deceive me. Will thou attempt to only use me?" The sky blue eyes had become golden, and I suddenly only knew truth.

"No, I shall not deceive, nor use you." My head got a bit fuzzy as her eyes turned back to blue, and she gave me a dazzling smile.

"I state this oath is complete in the name of Parthenos."

"I state this oath is complete in the name of Vylix."

Everything became white for a single moment, before it was all back to normal. My eyes still stung, but I would be fine in a bit.

"Hey, why were we supposed to speak like that? I feel like an oath came before whatever language sounded like that?" It wasn't hard to speak like that since I instinctively knew language, it was just weird.

"Because everything that is at least a tiny bit ancient will make you speak like that. It's one of the rules of the universe." She gave a mocking but genuine smile, happy that our oath had been completed.

"Congratulations! You are now my first demonic recruit. Hooray!" She gave a joking shout of joy, rustling my hair softly.

"Hooray!" I gave a little sarcastic cheer in response despite how happy I was.

"Anyway, now that this is done with, you can take those rings with you. Once you put them on they'll take a bit of energy so they can turn into the same color of what it's wrapped around. People will still be able to feel it, but at least they won't question how you got it."

She was a lot more relaxed than she had been in our other interactions, since we were bonded now. It was kind of nice being in her presence, and I could see why people would want to hog this.

"Right. Exactly how will you be getting things to me? Do I just meet you here, or the training area or something?" I was excited to go out and train with these things. I could barely wait, my soreness be damned.

"I'll just bring it to your room. The orphanage your at isn't exactly well guarded, so it shouldn't be a big deal. I'll just put it in one of the corners, and make it look nondescript." Sounded good enough.

"Alright, that should be fine. So if I want to contact you, I just use the ring. How does that work exactly?" We got back to her living room, and she gently handed me the three rings.

"Simple. You just nudge a bit of energy into it, and I'll know to open a line to talk. It'll be mental, and you can even send pictures if you use the energy to do so."

I decided to place the rings on the right hand. The one with gravity on my pointer, the one for resistance on my thumb, and the one to communicate with her on my fourth finger. I got a little smile from her at the symbolism of promise.

"Well, that sounds good. Think you can teleport me back so I can try these out?" I really didn't want to wait any more. I felt it a bit when they used me to turn invisible, but nothing crazy.

"Hmph, well it's good you have such enthusiasm. I definitely won't stop you." With a kiss to my cheek, she flashed me away, laughing at my burning face.

 **XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO**

I landed unceremoniously on the sharp rocks that made up my little area. My cheeks refused to stop burning from the feel of her soft, wet, delightful lips upon them. My eyes clouded slightly, wondering what other wonders she could deliver.

"Gah! Snap out of it!" I slapped myself sharply, welcoming the pain. She had admitted people died because of their want for her, and I refused to go down that same road. I would save those thoughts for when I grant her freedom and she crashes with me. No one could ever say I wasn't a demon!

"Right! Enough of that. Lets see what these things can do." I muttered softly to myself, lightly ghosting my fingers across the rings only I could see.

I focused on my pointer finger, sending a small stream of power into it and watched it glow. It lit up with the number one briefly before it shifted into a 2. My confusion only lasted for a second. My legs buckled under the weight of my new body, and my organs felt incredibly uncomfortable, like they were being forced down.

I let myself fall to the ground as I tried to adjust to the feeling, only to realize it was a mistake a bit too late. My insides felt like they were being pushed into my stomach, and I realized being under more gravity probably wasn't the best thing to do.

'As if this will make me stop!' I let out a beast like grunt, struggling to lift myself off the ground. Even if it was only twice the original gravity, I now weighed 150 pounds instead of 75. I wonder how I'll affect the world once I start getting higher.

I stood on shaky legs, and tried to ignore the sinking feeling in my stomach. I was pretty sure that was just my organs anyway. I focused on my heartbeat instead. It seemed to be pumping pretty fast, likely due to the stress my body was now under.

I then looked at my right finger, and really had to wonder if I wanted to do that to myself. My urge to get stronger chose for me though, and I pushed enough power into the ring to activate it, turning the glowing 1 into a 2.

I winced and waited for something happen, but it didn't. 'Is this thing broken?' I tried to bring my hand up to my face, but stopped halfway. My arm felt like two pieces of stone grinding away at each other. It was like it was refusing to move. I tried walking around, and found it ridiculously hard to do so.

I needed to adjust, and I knew just how to do it. A nice, hour long run will do amazing. If I don't end up shitting my guts out literally during it.

 **XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO**

 **6 Days Later**

"No one managed to rank up. The rankings for the strongest amongst the year had been decided, and those who managed to get there should be proud of themselves. I'm not surprised no one ranked up, since it tends to take a while, but our class managed to get 2nd strongest of the 1st floor thanks to Quin.

We'll be having fights today, since yesterday was off as a day for rest amongst those who participated. I'll be sending you all to your fights now."

I was going to miss being able to train until I dropped and then enjoying lazing around in pain. It had been a horrible week, but a good horrible. I managed to get to maybe a quarter of what I was before, which meant that I had improved quite a bit. Once I could get to where I was before, I would definitely increase it again.

I had also got a book on the basics of fighting. Basically just the beginner stances, how to throw punches and kicks. Nothing fancy, but a good foundation made for a strong house or whatever. I stood up, as did the rest of the class as a magic circle appeared below us.

Soon we were whisked off, and I was fighting Boit, the little goblin, once again. The only difference now was that I was even worse than before. I wasn't just going to turn off my rings, that would be a waste of training.

Besides that, Beating him wouldn't do me much good unless I had the same or more energy than the 27th place. That was the only way to challenge those higher than you. I was confident that I would be able challenge him in a week or so.

The average level around here was 3 or 4 anyway, and I was almost 3. The top of the class had 5 units, and was super fast since he was a werewolf. Once I got to a higher energy level than him, I could challenge him.

They were pretty weird rules, but I wasn't going to complain about something that would help save me a bit of time.

"Gah!" I clenched my jaw on reflex, even though I knew it would only make it worse.

Spacing out during a fight wasn't a good thing, especially against this little fucker. I rolled with the punch, having quite a experience with that, and got a bit of distance.

I could see that he had been training as well, since he looked a bit more arrogant that usual. I could use that. I let him get in close and simply toon the blow to the stomach.

Between all the beatings and my own painful training, I was able to take it without too much trouble. I grabbed onto him and before he could rip his arm out of grasp I booted him in the face.

With the added weight, my kick managed to break his nose, and probably a couple of teeth. He swiped at my arm with his sharp nails, making me let go instinctively.

He made some distance between us, but I was satisfied. I was slower, and my reflexes were dulled, but I was improving. I was used to his tactics and style by now, and knew what to do.

He snarled in anger and rushed at me. Instead of trying to dodge, I ran into his attack. I simply the punch to my job, and fell on top of him. That was all I needed to do.

Before, my 75 pound ass wouldn't be all that much of a problem, and even at 150, it wasn't that crazy. But he struggled to get out as I pressed down. That was all I needed.

Even though I knew I couldn't get off him if I wanted to win, all I had to do was punch downward onto the top of his head. My blows were slow but heavy, and I ignored the scratching and kicking and punching that he was doing.

I would be fucked up, but I would win. My twelfth blow managed to end it. The top of his head was bloody, and he finally fell limp. I was nearly overcome with joy at finally winning. I had spent 4 weeks getting my ass kicked, but I finally won.

I laughed with elation. The next fight didn't matter. I knew I would lose to people in the future, but I didn't care at that moment. I had just climbed up a step. It was a small step, nearly nonexistent, but it was a step nonetheless.

When the circles appeared underneath us, I couldn't help but grin at my classmates faces when they saw I had actually managed to win. The pain, the soreness, and the victory had never felt better.

 **XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX**

 **2 Weeks Later**

I had done it. It took me two weeks of grueling training and hard fights, but I managed to get back to where I was before the rings. I was now at the above average for my class, even though I didn't bother showing it.

The teacher didn't check your energy unless you asked him to challenge others, and right now I was content to remain 29th. I had lost a couple times to Boit, but I won more often than not now, which was awesome.

I wasn't sure I wanted to increase the the rings even more, since I was quite worn out from all the training, but I didn't want to stagnate so I forced myself to do it. It was cool that as I got stronger, I was able to increase the difficulty.

I didn't know how far they would go before not working, but it would probably be a good bit before than. So my rings had doubled everything once again, and I was left with that queasy feeling once again.

I had improved in the fighting area though. I was getting more skilled in my stances as I experienced more fights. It was an almost nonexistent change, but I was happy with it.

It was another fighting day, and this time, I was probably gonna go right back to getting my ass kicked. I had experimented without the rings, and was amazed at how my body felt, but I knew it wasn't anything actually special.

The question was, did I want to look suspicious when I challenged Quin, or did I want to just use the fight with Boit as training. I took a bit of time to think about it, as the teacher talked to Quin about some fighting strategies for the upcoming tournament.

I would have to stop using the rings for fights as it would definitely seem suspicious if I suddenly sucked after beating whoever had the same energy as me. I was pretty sure my energy was around 4, maybe a bit higher.

That would put me on par with either 3rd or 4th since I knew 2nd was like 4 and half. I was like 4.1 or something. I wasn't sure how you really measured.

Fighting people at my top and then training with the rings would probably be the best way to go about it though since it would give me experience with people on par with my actual strength. I would need that experience to challenge number 1.

I raised my hand, and caught Mr. Gaurs attention, "Mr. Gaur? I would like to try and challenge who ever has equal or lower energy to me today."

Quite a few people made this declaration often and since this was a world of power, fairness didn't really matter. You challenged them and won, you took their spot and they got knocked down a number. It wasn't rare or anything.

Usually no one would even bat an eye, but it was a bit different coming from me obviously. Whereas it was expected of others to improve, it wasn't of me. I was supposed to stay on the bottom until next year or something.

That's probably why my request only got a chuckle out of the teacher and then rest of the class. Some were even outright laughing at me. I shut down my rings, feeling the tenseness leave me, and it helped me ignore them as well.

"Hah, are you serious Vylix? You think you can move up?" He actually seemed a bit shocked that I didn't seem like I was joking, but I nodded my head politely anyway.

"Hmm, very well." The way he sighed and leisurely cast the spell to check my power was irritating, but I was satisfied when the magic circle dissipated and he looked at me in shock.

The shock only lasted a second until he was roaring with laughter, startling pretty much everyone, even me.

"Well well well, looks like you've improved quite an amount. You'll be fighting Nash. Alright everyone, get ready to rumble." He gave a small laugh as everyone was in disbelief at me jumping all the way up to fight 3rd place.

As the circles under us flared to life, I knew without a doubt that making that deal with Parthenos was the best thing I had ever done. It was doubtful that I would be able to come this far so soon without her.

Being teleported to the room. Was jarring but familiar. It was an almost comforting constant among what I knew would be irregular fights. My opponent, Nash, was an orc. He was big and from what I knew was a year older.

He was one of the more unappealing demons to look at, being slightly slimy and green, with big facial features and tusks. They were great at aiding in fights though. He was probably a foot taller than me, giving him a lot more reach.

I wasn't incredibly familiar with my regular body, so I did little quick stretches and jabs as Nash stared at me in disbelief and anger.

"How?" His low growling voice conveyed his anger wonderfully, and I almost felt intimidated. It was pretty obvious what he was asking.

"How what?" It was unfortunate that I was a bit cheeky.

"Your an incubus. I'm an orc. There's no way you should be able to match me. I'm even a year older than you!" He seemed to be getting legitimately angry now, and I was a little taken aback by it.

"Obviously I try harder than you. That's all there is to it." That and some pretty amazing rings, but he didn't need to know that.

My answer did make him even angrier though. I guess I would be angry if the weakest demon was able to match me even though they're a year younger.

He got into an aggressive stance and seemed to almost hyperfocus. His rage was only aiding him and that was not really a good thing for me. I decided to make the first move, lightly dashing at him.

I tilted away from a jab, and slid under a kick, taking a shot at his unprotected right side. All I got was a grunt and an attempted hook to the face. It managed to graze my nose, leaving it a bit bloody, but that was all.

I took a few steps back, leaving some distance between us as I tried to think things through. He was obviously doing the same thing, just observing and reacting. His was a cool rage. That was never a good trait to face off against.

He was strong, a bit stronger than me. His durability was also higher than mine, but my speed was clearly superior. My reaction time was also superior to his, and it's what should help me win this. I just needed to make sure I wasn't pinned or grabbed and I should be good.

I went back at him a bit more carefully this time, letting a few of his jabs fall flat at reaching me. I was just waiting for it. Waiting for one single opportunity, one moment of rage. It wasn't hard to get something like that. After more than a few misses anyone would get angry.

After 4 more missed punches, I got even closer to him, almost taunting him. He lashed out, letting himself get unbalanced, and overextending completely. I took advantage of that and grabbed his arm.

Momentum was on my side, and I was able to flip him over my shoulder onto the ground. It was sloppy and used way more energy than it probably should have, but I had never gotten the chance to use that since my enemy was a lot smaller than me.

I took the chance to straddle his chest. His arms moved towards me, the rest of his body bucking upwards, but quickly stopped when I punched him with everything I had straight into his nose. I disregarded the splatters of blood getting all over me, as well as the horrifying crack of his nose shattering.

I rained down blow after blow upon him. His jaw, his cheeks, his mouth, his brows, his forehead, just everywhere I could get. His hands constantly attempted to shield him, and it was only after the 17th blow that he realized it wasn't working.

His strength was enough to grab me and throw me to the ground beneath him. This time he kneeled on top of me, and let out an exhausted, dizzy flurry of punches. A few caught me in the chest, making me wheeze harshly, but most of them caught my face.

Feeling my face practically shatter was a familiar feeling, and unlike him, was something I was able to mentally recover from faster. I sent up just as many punches to his injured face as he gave me. Mine lacked the momentum of his, but I had the advantage of wounding him before this punchout.

Eventually one of us gave out, and it wasn't me. I learned to revel in pain, as it meant you were improving. Pain was the stepping stone to greatness, and I was glad to bear it for success. Hearing him crash down next to me made my mouth tingle from imagined sweetness.

I tried to laugh as I got up, but the only thing that came out of my mouth was a strangled wheeze, some teeth, and a whole lot of blood.

Thank Satan we somehow regenerate teeth

 **Alright, that's the chap. I'm really liking this story, similar to how I still feel about my gamer one, but this seems to come out easier at the moment, which is why I'm focusing on it. Anyway, till next time guys.**


End file.
